Was Wagner Group’s Russia ‘Coup’ Staged By Putin?

ANALYSIS – One of the first wisps of rumor I heard about the recent spectacular, brief and failed military revolt in Russia by the Wagner mercenary group's leader was that it was staged by Vladimir Putin. I even investigated that possibility briefly.

Unfortunately, there is little to confirm that the attempted coup, mercenary revolt, putsch or whatever it was, was faked. But there is also very little real information about it other than what we were allowed to see.

I analyzed what I could based on available information and wrote about it here. I'm still unsure what really happened. Or why.

But here are my earlier pieces here, here and here.

I have repeatedly noted that the Wagner Group, ostensibly led by its founder Yevgeniy Prigozhin, has been operating since its inception, either under or through Russian military intelligence – the GRU.

Many Western commentators admitted that things didn't quite add up with this ‘coup,' but most concluded that at least it had weakened Putin.

Joe Biden said he knew it for a fact. And even Donald Trump said it weakened Putin a bit. (RELATED: Trump Reveals Conversation With Russia's Putin That Delayed Invasion Of Ukraine)

But now we have a top Putin expert and former intelligence officer with my old outfit, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), stating categorically in an opinion piece in Newsweek that: “The coup was staged and completely a fake flag operation.”

She adds:

Think about it: An army invades Russia, race right up to Moscow, and no one gets hurt? With just a few thousand men, it achieved what Hitler with almost a million men wasn't able to? And Putin holds his military back? And then, with Moscow supposedly within his grasp, Prigozhin decides, “Oh well, never mind” and heads to Belarus?

That's a pretty big claim, but Rebekah Koffler is fairly credible. In addition to her intelligence background, she is the president of Doctrine & Strategy Consulting and the author of “Putin's Playbook: Russia's Secret Plan to Defeat America.”

Koffler continues:

Prigozhin would have had to be an idiot or suicidal to think that with 8,000 men he could invade Moscow. Yet Prigozhin is very smart man, a juvenile delinquent turned convict, then hot dog salesman, then CEO of a multi-million dollar catering business serving the Kremlin, to finally commander of the world's most formidable mercenary force. It is utterly implausible that Prigozhin thought that he could take on Rosgvardia, Russia's National Guard, a 340,000-strong domestic security force reporting directly to Putin.

And then there was the footage of Prigozhin sitting a bench in Rostov-on-Don, bantering amiably with Russia's deputy minister of defense, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov and deputy head of the Russian military intelligence, the GRU, Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alekseyev. It was just too chummy for a true rebellion.

Koffler even points to a tweet showing the video.

But then there is the ‘why?'

Why would Putin stage such an elaborate deception?

Well, according to her, Putin is also reminding everyone that the longer the Ukraine war continues, the greater the chance for chaos that could lead to far worse things, like losing control of Russia's nukes.

Koffler also explains the Russian military doctrine called ‘Reflexive Control,' which is designed to lead the enemy in a predetermined way “by serving him information he is likely to believe because of his pre-existing bias.”

She adds:

“Team Biden is already there.”

Meanwhile, the remnants of the Wagner Group have now conveniently moved to Belarus, which just received a load of tactical nuclear weapons from Putin.

She finally argues that this could point to yet another potential goal of Putin's ‘false flag operation' – “opening a second front to Ukraine's north while directly threatening NATO‘s eastern flank with the weapons of Armageddon.”

And, she says: “This time, Putin is doing it with Russia's most effective fighting force.”

This is an interesting opinion, but it is mostly speculation. And it doesn't fully explain a range of other issues and intrigue surrounding the event, including how Moscow appears to be taking control of Wagner's lucrative and influential Africa operations. (RELATED: Putin's Plans For Dominating Europe's Baltic States Revealed)

Still, Koffler's views should be considered. And some collusion between Putin and Prigozhin shouldn't be ruled out. Nothing in Russia is ever what it seems.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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